<\/p>\n You can watch it live via SpaceX’s website<\/a> or X account. Coverage will begin about 10 minutes before launch.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n The GPS<\/a> III satellites are built by aerospace giant Lockheed Martin and feature “M-Code” technology, which makes them more resistant to jamming than their predecessors, according to Space Force<\/a> officials.<\/p>\n The first GPS III vehicle lifted off in December 2018. As its name suggests, GPS III-SV09 will be the ninth, out of a planned total of 10, to reach orbit. The final one in the series is expected to go up later this year.<\/p>\n GPS III-SV09 was originally booked to fly on Vulcan Centaur<\/a>, United Launch Alliance’s powerful new rocket. But the Space Force changed that plan.<\/p>\n “For this launch, we traded a GPS III mission from a Vulcan to a Falcon 9, then exchanged a later GPS IIIF mission from a Falcon Heavy<\/a> to a Vulcan,” U.S. Space Force Col. Ryan Hiserote, SYD 80 Commander and National Security Space Launch program manager, said in an emailed statement on Jan. 22.<\/p>\n “Our commitment to keeping things flexible \u2014 programmatically and contractually \u2014 means that we can pivot when necessary to changing circumstances,” he added. “We have a proven ability to adapt the launch manifest to complex and dynamic factors and are continuing to shorten our timelines for delivering critical capabilities to warfighters.”<\/p>\n GPS IIIF, by the way, is the next iteration of satellites the U.S. will use for positioning, navigation and timing. (The “F” stands for “follow-on.”) The first of these spacecraft is expected to launch in Spring 2027.<\/p>\n \n Official NASA portrait of astronaut Ellison Onizuka (1946-1986). (Image credit: NASA)<\/p>\n The Space Force has named GPS III-SV09 after former U.S. Air Force Col. Ellison Onizuka, one of the seven NASA astronauts who died in the space shuttle Challenger<\/a> accident on Jan. 28, 1986.<\/p>\n Other former astronauts have been so honored as well. For example, GPS III-SV05 was named after Apollo 11<\/a> moonwalker Neil Armstrong,<\/a> and GPS III-SV07 carries the moniker “Sally Ride<\/a>,” after the first American woman to reach space.<\/p>\n![\"a](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/wnnZzYH6sVWSWiLddK4i4T.jpg\")
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